Edward D. Sweeney Ledger (Augustana College)

About this collection

The Edward D. Sweeney account ledger, 1860-1869, primarily contains the business records of Edward Sweeney, a Rock Island lawyer, particularly related to bounty claims following the American Civil War. Most of these claims were initiated by widows, parents, or legal gardians of orphaned children seeking pensions for family members who died in combat, but many claims are related to back pay of discharged soldiers. Sweeney kept his records in a ledger formerly owned by Emanuel J. Pershing, a newspaper publisher in Rock Island who used the book as a mercantile ledger until his death in 1860. The account book is peppered throughout with Pershing's accounts.